Greg Furminger, QMI Agency

An internal notice to hourly employees of Energex Tube — formerly Lakeside Steel — says the company decided to idle operations “for an undetermined amount of time” because of market conditions and “unfairly traded imports into North America.”

“This will result in the indefinite layoff of all hourly employees until business conditions change,” the notice says.

The company provided eight weeks’ notice of indefinite layoff, effective Monday. It will continue to extend health and insurance benefits for the duration of the layoff, the unsigned notice says.

Energex Tube is a division of U.S.-based JMC Steel Group. It employed 1,300 people at its peak, but last spring was down to about 130 employees.